Absa Group August 2020

AB SA GROUP LIMITED

Absa Bank: a digital bank for the African continent IN ASSOCIATION WITH

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Absa Bank: a digital bank for the African continent

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A B S A R E G I O N A L O P E R AT I O N S

Vimal Kumar, Chief Executive: Retail & Business Banking, Customer Experience and Digital – Absa Regional Operations, discusses reimagining the future of banking in Africa

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othing is going to be the same again after COVID-19 releases its grip on the world.

While nobody can predict what the ‘new

normal’ will look like, Vimal Kumar, Chief Executive: Retail & Business Banking, Customer Experience and Digital – Absa Regional Operations, is clear about one 04

thing: the response must be digital. “COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of digital solutions,” says Kumar. “The investment we made over the past few years in the digital transformation of our businesses across the continent enabled us to better respond during this time of crisis. As a modern, future-forward African banking group, a key pillar in our strategy is finding scalable solutions and platforms that continue to meet the evolving needs of our customers.”

Kumar believes that technology will be the driver of this new type of economy. Regional and local trade mechanisms are likely to replace global supply chains, he suggests, and the most successful financial institutions will be those which can promote digital channels most efficiently, making them cheaper to use, cutting or waiving transaction fees and enabling cashless payments and e-commerce.

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A B S A R E G I O N A L O P E R AT I O N S

“ Instead of the slow march to digital transformation in the payment space, we are going to see many years of change condensed into a few months” — Vimal Kumar, Chief Executive: Retail & Business Banking, Customer Experience and Digital – Absa Regional Operations

conversational AI. Secondly, instead of the slow march to digital transformation in the payment space, we are going to see many years of change

While being realistic about the difficul-

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condensed into a few months. Thirdly,

ties ahead, Kumar thinks the benefits

our employees must become mentally

of the Big Data and analytics journey

aligned to operate cohesively in a remote

the bank embarked on following the

and alternative working environment;

commencement of its separation from

most if not all organisations in the future

Barclays PLC in 2017 and it’s rebrand-

will need to find alternative solutions to

ing in 2020, stands it in good stead.

accommodate their workforce other

“As we come out into a new world

than physical environments for the next

post-pandemic, we are going to have to

few years. Fourthly, and central to future

accept fundamental shifts in consumer

success is the need for leaner, scalable,

behaviour. From my retail and busi-

low-cost-to-serve business models.”

ness banking perspective, I can see a

Absa Group’s new brand has been

number of positives. Firstly, massive

inspired by the African continent and its

uptake on alternative channels like

people, and the desire to unite under

e-wallet, e-commerce, contactless and

a single purpose – to bring possibility to life. The group’s shared-value approach reflects its ambition to become a purpose-driven financial services organisation creating substantial social impact through core business functions, while also delivering shareholder value.

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07 “One of the key pillars of our new

to collaborate with fintechs and startups.

growth strategy is to build a scalable

“As we progress along our digital journey,

digitally-led business,” says Kumar. “Our

we will continue to focus on change that

aspiration is to become an African bank-

brings value to our customers,” Kumar

ing group with global scalability. Our

explains. “And, because we recognise

motto is to ‘Bring Possibilities to Life’

the cultural change that a digital transfor-

and, as a result, pushing digital bounda-

mation entails, we are already taking the

ries to become customer-obsessed is

initiative to empower, engage and make

at the core of our focus.”

our 9,000+ employees in our African

There is a high degree of awareness around the fast changing landscape

regional operations future-ready.

“Very much a part of this process was

at Absa Group and efforts are being

during our rebranding to Absa Bank,

made to accelerate the transformation

we unveiled the artificial intelligence (AI)

journey by opening up the group’s legacy

powered humanoid prototype called

systems through microservices/APIs

Abby – Smart Banking Humanoid in our w w w.a bs a . co. z a

A B S A R E G I O N A L O P E R AT I O N S

“ I truly believe we can become a customercentric organisation by driving personalised experiences through a combination of data and digital” 08

— Vimal Kumar, Chief Executive: Retail & Business Banking, Customer Experience and Digital – Absa Regional Operations

Mauritius market that allows customers

Kumar is also enthusiastic about the

to self-service their banking transactions

chatbot that now sits on the website

and queries at branches 24/7. It works

and is also available on WhatsApp

on both voice commands and keyboard

Messenger across the African busi-

inputs and uses advanced NLP capabili-

nesses. Powered by deep AI that

ties to understand customer intent and

supports customers through intelligent

respond accordingly. After registration,

conversations, it is capable of doing

it recognises customers through face

most of the things that mobile or internet

recognition and allows them to place

banking can do. This virtual assistant

transactions with a secure PIN set

was developed with the help of US

during the registration process. The

fintech Kasisto and the South African

humanoid also has autonomous navi-

enterprise tech company Blue Turtle.

gation capabilities.”

“We looked at many providers but liked

the Kasisto option because it was a good

been a major disruptor in the payment

fit for what we needed. It is already live in

space between traditional financial

all our markets and will soon have trans-

services providers and disruptors.

actional capabilities – you can tell it to

“They give consumers a fast, secure,

make a payment and the bot will identify/

low-cost method to use, store and send

verify you and complete the transaction.”

money over the internet,” says Kumar.

Another huge step towards becoming

“Our wallet program envisages a banking

a truly digital bank located in the cloud

app that allows customers to open an

is happening right now at Absa with the

account, apply for lending, create sav-

rollout of wallet banking, scheduled to

ings products, pay a bill, and purchase

launch in some markets from August.

airtime amongst other things – all from

Digital wallets or mobile wallets have

their mobile. I am very excited about this 09

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :

Vimal Kumar Title: Chief Executive: Retail & Business Banking, Customer Experience and Digital

Industry: Finance Services

Location: South Africa

Vimal Kumar is the Chief Executive of Retail and Business Banking, Digital and Customer Experience for the Absa Regional Operations, at Absa Group Limited, overseeing the RBB franchises across nine markets: Zambia, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Mauritius and the Seychelles. He joined the group as the Head of Lending in 2011, based in its offices in Dubai where he provided strategic leadership direction. He has over 25 years of experience in Retail and Business Banking, including credit cards, consumer loans, retail liabilities and wealth management, having worked in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. w w w.a bs a . co. z a

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“ We will continue to invest in emergent technologies like AI, ML, and IoT wherever they have the potential to improve life for people as well as back office efficiency — Vimal Kumar, Chief Executive: Retail & Business Banking, Customer Experience and Digital – Absa Regional Operations

the future, to be expanded and made more multifunctional.

Since Absa became independent, Kumar has become increasingly

because it’s customer-centric, meet-

convinced that technology is more

ing a need that is felt in all our markets.

effectively and quickly implemented

It helps us deliver banking capability

by involving partners than by building

at a very low cost to segments that

it in-house. “We have an accelerator

are difficult to serve through the

programme where we incubate up to

branch network.”

15 fintechs at any one point. We started

Importantly, it extends financial

working with some of those companies

access, as Kumar explains. “We want

because they were building technologies

to make it easy for new customers to join

specifically to solve customer problems

the financial ecosystem. Wallet banking

in Africa. Our biggest success so far

brings together a couple of cool things.

has been Jumo, which has built mass

One is that it helps us penetrate the

data and analytics, and credit assess-

mobile money ecosystem effectively;

ment capability, working in Africa with

it creates a partnership opportunity with

mobile lending operators over the

other fintechs and with the mobile net-

last eight years. It is very smart, it can

work operators – the kind of partnership

onboard and assess customers, and

that will be so important going forward.

lend to them based on a multivariate

It also helps us onboard customers in a

scorecard that ranks risk.”

non-physical way so they can either use the self-KYC (know your customer) facility or onboard via an agent. They need never come into a branch.” Wallet banking, Kumar says, is an investment in w w w.c o mpawny w w.a we bsite. bs a . co. com za

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A B S A R E G I O N A L O P E R AT I O N S

12 This technology chimes with Kumar’s

that directly links agri-trade activity with

vision to reach new segments of soci-

financial services. The farmer can offer

ety – people who might never come

his or her supply and the buyer can pur-

into a bank branch. Absa is now work-

chase electronically at an agreed price.

ing with Jumo in Zambia, Ghana, and

Since so much of the African economy

very soon Tanzania and Uganda too,

comprises small-scale agribusinesses,

within the mobile money ecosystems

this is a sector Kumar is particularly

there, allowing customers to save and

keen to excel in, and this marketplace

borrow money.

capability is proving very successful.

The innovation accelerator,

Africa’s diaspora is marked by a

WorkinProgress, was founded in 2015

great need for effective and fast remit-

and is based at Cape Town. It provides

tance structures, but aside from large

facilities and support for startups.

money transfer operators, there are

Another highly relevant partner to have

few options, Kumar continued. “We are

come from it is Avenews-GT, an Israeli

evaluating a fintech partnership and

fintech that has digital infrastructure

in parallel have also built an in-house

on their mobile and charge it back to us.”

“ I am very excited about wallet banking because it’s customer-centric, meeting a need that is felt in all our markets” — Vimal Kumar, Chief Executive: Retail & Business Banking, Customer Experience and Digital – Absa Regional Operations

This, he says, will push mobile access, data being an expensive commodity for Africans.

The investment Absa has put into data is now paying off. The bank won the 2019 award for Best Technology Initiative at the Financial Innovation Awards in London for its data analytics platform, which tackles the issue of data availability in banking, especially in emerging markets. “Customer360 (C360) presents data with a lot of visualisation and interactivity. There’s

mobile based remittance solution

gamification and machine learning

called Novo Fx. Again, this is something

capability – again, it puts customers

our customers are really in need of.”

at the heart of our strategy. I truly

Partnerships like these in a targeted

believe we can become a customer-

way reach out to a huge untapped

centric organisation by driving

customer base. In 2016, Absa was

personalised experiences through a

the first bank to offer South African

combination of data and digital. And

customers reverse billing over all big

the employees are as much a part

four networks, allowing the MNOs to

of the journey as the customers are.

charge data costs back to Absa. “I

Digital transformation is only possible

want our customers to never pay for

if we can get our colleagues on the

data either while using the Absa app or

same page,” he concludes.

website. Again, we are in very advances stage of discussions with an exciting technology company to aggregate the data customers use in accessing Absa w w w.a bs a . co. z a

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7 TH FLOOR AB SA TOWER S WEST 15 TROYE STREE T JOHANNESBURG 200 1 PO BOX 7 7 35 JOHANNESBURG 2000 T +2 7 (0) 1 1 350 4 000 www.absa.africa/absaafrica/

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